Lightning Storm
by toSempiternity
Summary: It started with a totally normal day: Percy being forced to surf against his supposed half-sister. It ends with said half-sister and co. becoming the Wind Power Rangers, and Percy and Thalia going nuts. In metallic suits, nontheless. AU of Ninja Storm.
1. Prelude To a Storm

**Hey. Guys! This is my first PJO/PR crossover! Fourth on the site! (Not that you wouldn't know that.) Whatever. This has some reference to "Pet Failures of the Demigod Gang", which is obviously on hiatus. But don't read that fic. It's...weird, and amateur, and very bad in general. ^^'**

**So I'm starting this in an AU of Prelude to a Storm. Like Dustin's with Tori at Storm Chargers, not dirtbiking or surfing, respectively. Besides, I can't watch the video, so I don't have the script. This is my best interpretation of the episode. (I got the summary from the PR wiki.) The rest, I hope, will be closer to the real deal.**

**LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>  
>Percy<p>

* * *

><p>It was official—Percy hated pelicans.<p>

It may seem strange. Pelicans were somewhat sea creatures, but...well. He'll come to that later.

Right now, he was cursing under his breath as a certain daughter of Athena practically yanked his hair out of their follicles. Percy winced as another sharp bolt of pain shot through his scalp.

"When I said 'help me'," Percy said through gritted teeth, "I didn't mean for you to kill me!"

Annabeth let out a sound of distress, shaking some shampoo off of her gloves—those big, yellow floppy ones that OCD moms use to scrub the bathroom toilet, not their children's hair. But Percy had several big glops of stinky white stuff—a.k.a. pelican poop—in his hair. He supposed that this situation qualified, although it was still...ewww.

"Annabeth!" a voice irritably shouted outside the door. "I know you're in there!"

"I'm busy!" Annabeth called back, still vigorously scrubbing Percy's hair.

There was silence for a moment, and the door was kicked open. Thalia stood there, absolutely steaming. Percy didn't think it was because of the hot water in the bathroom, either. "You could have told me that five minutes ago—what in Hades are you doing?"

Percy spin around, splattering the mirror with shampoo foam. "Mind your own business, Pinecone Face!"

Thalia didn't even object to the pseudo-swear, she just smirked. "Aw, is little Percy _so_ incompetent now that he can't even wash his own hair?"

Annabeth stiffly pointed a finger towards the sink. "Percy. Head in. Thalia, it's 'Seaweed Brain', not 'Percy'. You should know that!"

"You're right," Thalia said in mock shock. "How could I forget?"

Percy willed the water to wet him. He sat up when all the soap was washed off, and shook his head like a wet dog. Annabeth and Thalia ducked from the spray.

"I thought that you were my girlfriend!" Percy complained.

Thalia ruffled his hair and said as she stood up, "That reminds me. Percy, have you ever surfed?"

Percy felt his face contort.

"What's up with the grimace?" Annabeth asked curiously.

"Well..." Percy's voice faltered, and he answered honestly, "Look, if Thalia's a surfer, then I'm a dick."

Thalia shrugged. "You are a dick. But I wouldn't surf for control of the universe."

Percy looked at her weirdly, but said, "No, I don't surf. Why?"

Thalia exchanged a look with Annabeth, who cleared her throat. "Ahem. We...kind of placed a bet with Thalia's old Hunter buddy," she casually said. "She's heard about you. But anyways, she said that if you're better at surfing then her, she'll pay twenty drachmas to each of us. It's the other way around if you win."

Percy's mouth dropped open. "I—I told you, I can't surf!"

Annabeth ignored him. "Jackson, you better win this. I don't have twenty drachmas."

Thalia let out a snort. "And, Percy? Be nice to her. She may not look like it, but she's your half-sister. On your dad's side."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Percy said, holding up a hand. "First. Annabeth, _I can't surf._ Two, Thalia, I'm screwed, then. And since when did Poseidon have another child? Both of you, _I can't surf_."

Annabeth shrugged, smiling. "Then you'll have to learn, hands-on style. Not our problem. Besides, Percy, it's"—she checked her watch—"two twenty-six. Your appointment's at two thirty. We're going right now."

Percy swallowed. "And...where is this?"

"Ah...California," Thalia quickly replied. "Mount Othrys doesn't matter anymore, anyways, and Nico's going to take us there. Hey, Death Boy!"

In an unspoken agreement, Annabeth and Thalia grabbed either of Percy's arms and they both dragged Percy over to Nico, who was blowing a bubble. It popped as soon as Nico saw them. "Hey, Thalia," he greeted. "Annabeth. Percy's the lucky guest, huh?"

"Uh. I think you mean unlucky captive," Percy corrected.

Nico whistled, and Mrs. O'Leary bounded over. "Percy, Annabeth, on the hellhound. Lightning Girl's with me." **[A.N./ That is _not_ a Thalico reference! Just wanted to make that** **clear!]**

Thalia made a face, but she took Nico's hand. Nico winced. "Augh! And I thought that my hand was cold—yours is ice!"

"Yeah, yeah, can we please go now? Let's not be tardy."

Mrs. O'Leary woofed joyously (which was the exact opposite of how Percy felt right now), and bounded into the shadows.

Percy and Annabeth reappeared on a street, and Percy's bet hellhound promptly disappeared again. Nico popped out with Thalia and instantly let go. "My hand is getting frostbite," he moaned. Thalia swatted him.

Nico stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked at Percy. "Good luck, Perce. You'll need it."

"Stop it!" This time, Annabeth hit him. She nudged Thalia, who grumbled and tossed Nico some drachmas.

"That was the last bit of money I had," she complained at Nico vanished. "Are we going or not?" She jogged down the street without waiting for an answer.

Annabeth led Percy to a small-ish shop, and Percy glanced up, trying to read the sign. With his dyslexia, it looked like: _TOSMR EHGRRCAS._

Thalia was already at the counter, talking to some dude with curly hair.

"—just saying," Thalia said. "So. Where is she?"

The guy shifted, glancing at Percy. "Don't worry, I'll get her. Don't freak."

"Yeah, Percy," Thalia smirked, turning around. "Don't freak. You'll love her."

Annabeth glared daggers at Thalia, who shook her head. "Annabeth, that is _so_ wrong."

"That is—" Percy started to grumble, but the guy came back, this time with a girl with blond hair and...Percy couldn't tell. Blue eyes? Gray eyes? Blue-gray eyes?

She looked him over as if analyzing him for an extremely painful experiment. "I'm not going to eat you, for god's sake. Percy Jackson, isn't it?" she asked. She glanced at the guy and turned, mouthing, _Hero of Olympus?_

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh...don't pump up his over-inflated ego even bigger...don't say I didn't warn you."

Percy glared at his supposed girlfriend.

"Oh, come on, Annabeth," the girl said, lifting her head. "Percy can't be half bad. He's my half-brother, remember?"

The guy scratched his head. "Wait—you have a—"

The girl shushed him and turned back to Percy.

"Blood isn't everything," Thalia pointed out. "I thought you knew that."

"I do." The girl stuck out her hand, and Percy hesitantly shook it. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Tori. Tori Hanson."

* * *

><p>Tori quickly let go of Percy's hand. "You're...hot."<p>

Annabeth and Thalia both made gagging motions behind her back. Percy could feel himself blushing.

The curly-haired dude clapped his hands, a crazy grin on his face.

Thalia sighed. "Tori, I am _so_ disappointed in you...are you falling in love?"

"Um, no," Tori said, ignoring Thalia's latest comment. "I mean that he was hot. As in temperature-wise. You're like a hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Do you have a fever?"

"I'm just gonna warn you," Percy said, "I can't surf. Just thought that you'd know that."

Tori raised an eyebrow and leveled her eyes with him, which was kind of funny, since Percy was a whole lot taller. "In that case. Tell Annabeth and Thalia to pay up."

"Whoa!" Thalia butted in. "Don't even think about it! Percy—go, or I'm going to gut you like a fish."

"I'm related to fish!" Percy protested.

"Exactly!" Thalia agreed. "Exactly why I used that simile!" She frowned. "Or is it a metaphor?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Sorry, Percy, but I'm with Thalia in this one. Remember? I don't have twenty drachmas."

If possible, the curly-haired guy looked even more confused. "What the heck are drachmas?"

Tori was waiting. Percy sighed. If he lost to a girl, albeit his half-sister, Travis and Connor Stoll would never let him hear the end of it. "Okay. Fine. Just...off with you other guys!"

Thalia had a devilish look on her face. "Percy, do you really think we would do that? I have to videotape this! I'm sorry, but I just want to see you get your behind kicked!"

"Glad to know you have so much faith in me," Percy snapped.

Annabeth opened her mouth to say something, but Tori's watch beeped. She glanced at it and smiled apologetically. "Maybe it can be another time. Dustin and I've gotta go." She threw a look at Dustin. "For once, we won't be late," she muttered under her breath. Percy raised an eyebrow, but underneath his demeanor was a thinly veiled layer of thick relief.

Annabeth and Thalia, on the other hand, looked very disappointed.

"Catch you later," Dustin called as he and Tori trotted out of "Tosmr Ehgrrcas". They got into a blue van and Tori stepped on the gas. They shot off way over the speed limit.

Thalia grumbled. "That was _not cool_," she complained.

"If I were you," Annabeth suggested, "I would drag Percy and follow them to see what they're up to. You know?"

Thalia smiled. Percy unconsciously backed away. He stammered, "I don't...I don't think that we can catch up with them."

"Who says?" Thalia asked. "I know for a fact that they're going to stop to pick up a friend, and then go off to wherever they go to."

"A skateboarder," Annabeth added.

"And where is this friend?" Percy challenged.

Annabeth looked at him weirdly. "A...skateboarding park?"

Percy inhaled. "And where is that?"

Thalia interrupted. "There can't be _that_ many of them," she pointed out. "If we run..."

Percy snorted. "You really think that we can catch up with a car that's driving at a sixty-mile per hour run?"

Thalia pondered over it. "That _is_ a real problem...well, Annabeth, you can drive, right?"

"Yeah, but where are you gonna get the keys?" Annabeth asked, albeit uncertainly.

"Why not me?" Percy asked. "I can drive!"

"We don't trust you to," Annabeth shot back.

"I'm offended!" Thalia said in a mock hurt voice, to Annabeth's first comment. "I think that you've forgotten about...you know. Just you wait." She marched off.

Percy nudged Annabeth. "She really is determined, isn't she? Why?"

Annabeth's lips contorted into a half-smile. "Um...you know, Tori used to be a Hunter. When me, Thalia, and Luke ran into them the first time, Zoë sent Tori, who was just a little twelve-year-old at the time, to try and convince Thalia to join. There was a fight. The usual. And then, Zoë and Thalia got into their infamous argument. They made up later, though." Annabeth sighed.

"Then, how come I didn't see her when the Hunters came at Westover?" Percy asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "She quit by then. I don't know why. Besides, she's like seventeen now."

"I'm back!" Thalia sang, and flipped a pair of car keys and catching it. "This belongs to a silver Volkswagen. Step on it!"

Annabeth took them without another word and jostled an unwilling Percy to the car. Thalia clambered into the back, while Percy was forced into shotgun. Annabeth backed out of the parking lot and peeled down the highway with a loud _screeeeeech!_

"Ouch." Thalia winced as Annabeth swerved. "That sounded nasty."

* * *

><p>Tori<p>

* * *

><p>"We're going to get caught by the police for speeding!" Dustin yelled in Tori's ear. She leaned away from him. "Gods. I don't want to be prematurely deaf or crash, so shut up? Please? Besides, aren't you a daredevil?"<p>

"We all are," Dustin pointed out. "Aren't we all extreme sports people? You've got your surfing, I've got motocross, and Shane likes skateboarding. And why do you say 'gods'?"

Tori pulled over to the side, and killed the engine. She leaned back and crossed her arms. "You've got to be kidding me. The _one_ time when I set an alarm, and Shane's late? Great timing." She paused. "I say 'gods' because I feel like it."

Dustin frowned, and then punched her arm. "Oh, come on, Tori, lighten up. You're lucky I wasn't coming alone."

Tori hit him back. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," she mumbled.

They must have waited for another five minutes before Shane skidded around the corner, pulling on a red sweatshirt.

"Took you long enough," Tori grumbled.

Shane slid into the back seat and pulled the door shut. "Where's Dustin?"

"Hey, bro!" Dustin indignantly said. "Right over here!"

Tori gunned the engine and they shot down the road again.

"I suggest that you put on your seatbelt if you don't want your head to be taken off," Dustin told Shane, who was slammed back by the sudden acceleration of the car.

Tori rounded a sharp corner in a squeal of tires, and they shot down a mountain road.

Dustin leaned back, his trademark crazy grin on his face. "Dude. What d'you think it would be like to be Power Rangers?"

Shane and Tori both looked at him weirdly, but Tori decided to drop it.

"How the heck can both of you guys be late every single time?" Tori grumbled, changing the subject.

"Maybe that's because you're the reliable one," Shane stated, making Dustin laugh.

"What does that mean—'the reliable one'?" Tori asked skeptically.

"Look, in any group, there are different kinds of people," Shane explained.

"Totally true," Dustin continued. "Think about...um..."

"The Power Rangers!" Shane joked, slapping the headrest in front of him—which happened to be the driver seat. Tori nearly swore as she jolted forwards into the wheel. "Quit it!" she barked. "I'm trying to drive here!" She rolled her eyes. "You've got to be joking." She privately thought that they sounded a _lot_ like children of Hermes at this moment.

"No," Dustin said. "Okay: so there is always, like, the mellow-like reflective dude."

"And then there is the rich taker," Shane smiled. "The adrenaline guy. That would—of course—be me!" Shane turned the rear view mirror so it could face him as he fixed his hair.

"And you Tori, you're just...you're the logical one!" Dustin laughed.

"You guys have to lay off the comic books, seriously," Tori grumbled. "Power Rangers? Whatever. Can we lay off this conversation? It's seriously giving me a migraine."

She stopped in front of a huge forest, killed the engine, and got out, slamming the door behind her.

"This place always creeped me out," Dustin whispered.

"I heard that, bro," Shane agreed, walking into forest with his friends behind him.

"You guys are so lame!" Tori smirked. They came into a clearing, jumping over a fallen tree trunk and walked up to the lake.

"It sure is quiet out here," Shane pointed out. "A little too quiet."

As soon as he said that, a twig snapped behind them. All of them whirled around, but none of them saw anything. Dustin shrugged. "Could be nothing."

Tori sincerely doubted that it was nothing.

They continued to walk towards the lake when something zoomed by. Shane turned his head to see what it was.

"Hey...guys...did you see and hear that?" he uncertainly murmured.

"I think—" Dustin started, but a big black blur pushed all three teens to the floor. As they got up, nine ninjas appeared out of nowhere.

"I knew it," Shane grumbled. Tori frowned. She was sure that the snapping twig hadn't been caused by the trainees; they were too careful for that.

"Uh, guys," Tori started, but Shane and Dustin had already thrown off their street clothes, revealing the outfit the ninjas had on. Tori figured that she would look stupid if she just stood there, so she followed suit—literally.

Being a daughter of Poseidon has its perks. This, Tori thought as she ran straight for the lake, was exactly why she chose to master water. Running across the top of it as if it was solid ground was sure...fun. Not.

The truth was, she didn't want to anger Zeus by walking on air, or Hades by travelling underground. Tori had no desire to die at the age of seventeen, especially since her birthday was only about one, two months away. **[A.N./ Okay, okay, I'm just estimating. Her birthday was celebrated at the end of Shane's Karma, Pt. 3, and it had eighteen candles on it. 'Kay? Good.]**

Tori was so absorbed in her thoughts that she looked up too late. Surprised that her opponents already in the air and jumping at her, she lost her concentration and fell into the lake. And because it would look strange if she emerged dry—even ninjas weren't waterproof—Tori shot out of the lake, spluttering and choking up water.

This was so embarrassing. As Tori glumly came out of the water, she hoped that Poseidon wasn't watching her little "falling out". She grumpily wrung out her hair.

Dustin's curly hair was askew, and his half below his chest was all covered in mud and dirt. Shane had this huge, dusty footprint smack in the middle of his clothes, and the jacket was ripped a bit, too.

All of them turned to the sky as a falcon was heard. Tori winced.

"Oh, man!" Shane sighed. The falcon swooped down and transformed into Sensei.

"That's enough for today," Sensei said to all the other ninja. As soon as he did, the trainees sprinted away so fast that they were a blur, while leaving Tori, Shane, and Dustin alone with Sensei.

Sensei walked up to the teens, disappointment written all over his face. "Shane, Dustin, Tori. I will expect a visit from you, so we may discuss your lack of commitment to your ninja training." He walked off to the waterfall, just on the other side of the lake, and disappeared through a portal.

"Well, that wasn't so bad, huh?" Dustin smiled, trying to cheer up his friends.

"Not that bad?" somebody else called. "He totally chewed you out! You three are _toast!_"

Thalia had this extremely crazy smirk on her face as she stared at them. "Well, actually, you boys—Dustin and what's-your-name—are toast. Tori can't be toast because water can't be cooked in a toaster. It would short-circuit it. Oh, well. You can be in hot water instead."

Shane harrumphed. "'What's-your-name?'"

Tori glared at Thalia, aware that her ears were feeling hot. "Shut—shut up, before I put you in some hot water! Why did you even follow us? And where's Annabeth?"

"No worries," Thalia said. "I can use Percy as a shield. Annabeth...left. Something about building a temple for Ni—" She stopped, noting Tori slicing a finger across her throat. Percy was adamantly shaking his head. "Um. She has work to do."

"And I'll splash the water straight into your head, Pinecone Face!" the said boy muttered.

Dustin's eyebrows shot up. "'Pinecone Face'?"

"What?" Percy asked, a smile playing around his lips. "She was a pine tree for six years. Or, you can call her Bolt Head, Lightning Girl, Bark Face—"

"—And I'll call _you_ Seaweed Brain, Mermaid Man, Barnacle Beard Junior, Kelp Head, Coral Brine, Shark Bait, Aqua Boy—"

"Are you two dating or something?" Dustin asked before Tori could clamp a hand over Dustin's mouth.

Shane sliced a finger across his throat as both demigods turned to look at Dustin.

"Are you a son of Aphrodite?" Percy retorted.

"Did you think I _wanted_ to be locked up in a basement with him that had pink wallpaper full of hearts and Cupids and pink lemonade with heart-shaped sandwiches that were spiked with love potion?" Thalia asked incredulously.

"Capture the Flag was horrid!"

"Yeah, because _somebody_ decided to dump a couple hundred mackerel on me!"

"But you nearly electrocuted me to Mars! Fish isn't such a big payback!"

"You don't know what it feels like when one of them slides down the front of your shirt!"

They were nose-to-nose now. Tori sighed and wedged herself between them. "All right...we don't want any nasty objects flying into the guy's faces."

Dustin looked confused. "Who? What?"

"The bottom line," Percy loudly said, "is _no_. Where were you going, anyways?" He shot a nasty look at Thalia, who stuffed her hands into her pockets and looked innocent.

"Um..." Dustin looked at a loss for words.

"A school," Shane suggested.

"Right!" Dustin exclaimed brightly. "School! It's really fun!"

Tori clapped a hand to her forehead. "That comment was really unnecessary."

"School," Percy repeated. "Fun." He looked unconvinced that the word "school" would ever mix with the word "fun".

"And we have to get going to the fun school!" Shane remarked.

"Great!" Percy said brightly. Tori groaned until she heard Percy say, "Then me and Thalia will be going off now! We'll catch you later!"

"Nosy, much?" Shane grumbled as they walked off.

Tori squirmed. "Yeah. Sure. Are we going or not?"

Shane opened his mouth to say something when the yelling started. Tori slowly turned around to look at the lake, where a disturbance had bubbled. A second later, a huge wave erupted from the lake, narrowly missing Dustin's head.

Dustin prodded Tori nervously. "I'm guessing you didn't do that?"

Tori pulled away and sprinted after the water.

* * *

><p>Thalia<p>

* * *

><p>"Can we go back to Camp Half-Blood?" Percy pleaded as soon as they stepped foot out the forest. "We can steal their car!"<p>

Thalia yawned. "One. I don't have the keys. Two, I don't have any drachmas left to pay Nico, and your hellhound's bound to be tired. Three, Annabeth assumed that we would be with...you know, them for the whole time. So she ditched us." Thalia slyly grinned at Percy, who looked thunderstruck. "Don't let that thought cross your mind, Percy. Don't break up with her. You know you love her."

Percy grumbled. "For a Hunter of Artemis, you sure are a—"

"Don't even say it," Thalia threatened. "If we're stranded here, we might as well make good use of it."

Percy threw his arms up in the air in exasperation. "Oh, and what are we gonna do? Waltz around the place, looking like total dorks? I don't even know what city we're in!"

"Blue Bay Harbor," Thalia answered. "And stop hyperventilating. It isn't doing any of us any good."

They walked slowly around the perimeter of the forest, when Percy stopped so abruptly that Thalia crashed straight into his back, smashing his nose effectively. "Shit!" she cried before she could stop it. "Percy! What was that about?" She gingerly rubbed her nose.

"Maybe it's just me," Percy muttered so softly that Thalia almost couldn't catch it.

"It's always just you, Jackson," Thalia grumbled. "What the Hades?"

Percy spun her around so that she could engage in a staring match with a...tree. "Tell me if you can see anything."

Thalia threw a glance at it and growled, "I can't see anything wrong with it!"

"You didn't even properly look at it!" Percy reprimanded.

Thalia got mad. So mad that she swore. "What the fucking Hades is there with a tree!"

Percy narrowed his eyes and spat out a bad word himself. "You know what? Fine. Be that way! What's with your damn tree, huh? You were its spirit for well over five years! I wouldn't be surprised if it decided to drop down dead 'cause you inhabited it!"

Thalia pushed him away. "You did _not_ just go there," she snarled. Like she asked to be a tree? Along with it came so many damn stupid questions.

_"Did you smell like pine needles?"_

_"Did you develop claustrophobia while in there?"_

_"Was the bark itchy?"_

Was the bark itchy? Ha. To Tartarus with Will. Even now, he teased her with that question.

"Was the bark itchy?" Percy taunted, voicing the question on her mind. "Were you green?"

"ARGH!" Thalia could smell ozone in the air; no doubt it was because of her. Percy obviously smelled it too, and he raised his hand. There was a vague thundering in the distance, no doubt a huge wave just waiting to be released.

Sure enough, a huge wave of water unfurled behind Percy, quivering as it waited to be released.

Thalia felt lightning jump and curled around her arms. "You want some of it, Seaweed Brain?"

"Bring it, Pinecone Face!" Percy retorted, thrusting out his arms. The water roared towards her in a tsunami wave. Thalia crouched down, and when the crest of the wave was on her, she dropped to the ground, pressing herself against the grass as the water washed over her. Nevertheless, the force was strong as to blow her off her feet and smash her into a large boulder.

The wave died away and Thalia stood up shakily, shaking the water from her hair and breathing hard. She hacked out some water. "You'll pay for that, kelp-for-brains."

Thalia sprinted straight towards Percy, hoping that for _once_, the winds would help her move faster. Or at least make a miniature tornado.

Percy moved aside from her confrontation, until Thalia spun around and grabbed him by the shoulders. She was still wet, and that water soaked into Percy's shirt. Percy frowned as the water touched him. "You know that water makes me stronger."

Thalia glared at him. "And you know that water conducts electricity." She sent a huge charge through him and felt Percy stiffen underneath her. There was a clap of thunder, and Percy stumbled back, smoke curling from his shirt. He had several sizzling holes in his shirt and his hair was sticking up like a torch.

"HEY!" a girl's voice yelled. Tori ran out of the forest. She looked between Percy and Thalia.

"What was it this time?" Tori crossed her arms. "Thalia, you look like you've just been underneath the Arctic Sea for a week, and Percy, you look like you've exploded."

Thalia didn't even try to talk with her. She snarled at Percy. "He has a ridiculous notion about this _tree_."

Percy glared back at her. "Since when have you seen a tree pulsating out of the blue?"

"Never," Tori interrupted. "You two have arguments over the pettiest things. Why don't you two just make up?" She glanced at her watch. "Work it out, won't you?" She trudged into the forest.

"Well. That was awkward," Percy shrugged.

Thalia ground her teeth. "Let's try this again. What. The. Hades. Is. Up. With. Your. Freaking. Tree?"

Percy vaguely indicated towards a large oak tree that was clearly not glowing. "Look at it. Isn't it glowing?"

Thalia looked harder at the stupid tree. "Um. No. Nuh-uh."

Percy sighed exaggeratedly and he stuck a hand through the bark of the tree as if it was a perfectly normal thing to do. Thalia's mouth dropped open.

"Well, hey," he said proudly, walking over with two little gadgets in his hand. "Check it out."

He had already claimed the gold colored one, leaving her with silver. Thalia uncertainly took the little thing, which was a long black thing with a silver coin on top. On the center of the silver coin was a blue lightning bolt.

"See?" Percy asked.

Thalia shook her head and looked at Percy. "Tell me one thing. What is it?"

"I don't know," Percy shrugged. "Trade? I want to see yours."

Thalia frowned and tossed over her chunky object while catching Percy's. It was similar, but the coin on the top was gold with a green bolt in it.

"Hey, I would expect yours to have a trident," Thalia pointed out. "Why do you have a lightning bolt? Can I have mine back?"

Percy put her own rectangular thing back into her hand, and she handed over Percy's. Thalia felt something press down on her, and she felt woozy for a second. She straightened, and almost on impulse, doggedly strapped the boxy thing to her wrist. She saw Percy do the same thing, and her foggy mind registered that there was _something_ wrong. But a bright flash totally killed her eyes and she slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>Tori<p>

* * *

><p>Tori was watching the tiny TV sputtering out some skateboarder flipping upside down when Shane leaned forwards with a whoop.<p>

"Kick flip two hundred fifty-fifty!That's what I got to learn for my video!" Shane exclaimed, watching a professional skateboarder on the small TV. Suddenly the alarm on the clock went off, scaring Dustin. He turned the clock off, and all three of them raced out of the door.

"Dustin!" Tori called, making sure he was actually coming.

"Yo, heads up!" Dustin yelled to his boss, throwing a dirty rag her way.

"Dustin!" she sighed, "You're not going to leave me here to clean up the shop!"

"Have I ever told you what a cool boss you are?" Dustin smiled innocently. "Bye, Kelly!" he yelled, running out the door with his friends.

The radio announcer was talking pointlessly in the van as Tori drove her friends once again to the academy that the boys called a "fun school". "Are we on time?" Dustin asked.

Tori grit her teeth. "Well, Dustin, maybe if you don't _scream_ we might." She sighed. "You're early numbskulls," she grumbled. "We could have stayed a few minutes longer to watch some more TV! I wanted to see the skateboarder fall on his butt!"

Dustin smiled. "Dude. Maybe you should come watch Shane sometimes then."

"Hey!" Shane swatted him.

She then passed by a car that was smoking from the engine. The couple trying to fix it were elderly. Because they were early, Tori thought it would be nice to help them out.

"No way, Tori! We can't!" Shane argued. Tori got out of her car.

"We can't just leave them here," she snapped. Shane turned to look at Dustin.

"C'mon, it'll just be two minutes!" Dustin argued, getting his tool box from the back of the van.

It took a lot more than two minutes when Dustin finally emerged, his face sooty and smeared with grease. "Finished."

The couple thanked him, and Dustin clambered back in the car, hopefully saying, "Well, what if his alarm clock didn't go off, and he doesn't even miss us?"

"He's a ninja master, Dustin! They don't oversleep!" Shane corrected his air-headed friend. Tori rolled her eyes.

Shane, Dustin, and Tori appeared through the portal in time to see everything being sucked up into the sky. Tori sucked in a panicked breath. As they looked over the ruins, Shane stammered, "It's—it's gone!"

"I'm thinking...earthquake!" Dustin suggested, as a cause for the school's disappearing act.

Tori snorted. "And pigs will fly."

"When was the last time you heard of an earthquake sucking buildings and people into the sky?" Shane asked his friend a bit hysterically.

"Who would do something like this?" Tori protested.

Shane looked around. "Are we the only students left?"

They all surveyed the broken landscape. A couple rocks fell down from this huge boulder, and Shane turned. "Who's that?"

Somebody groaned, pulling himself out of the debris. Shane looked at him and yelled, "It's Cam! Help me pull him out!"

They all ran to the son of Sensei. Shane grabbed his arm and hauled him out. Tori hovered nearby, uncomfortably glancing around. She felt that something wasn't right. She saw nothing, and turned to help Cam. "We've got you."

Cam coughed, which sounded like the last breaths of a dying man. Tori pushed the thought from her mind. That wasn't a scene that she needed to see.

"Cam, are you okay?" Shane concernedly asked.

Cam nodded, hauling himself up. "Yeah, thanks. I'm fine."

Tori looked up and yelped. A red laser blast that had come out of thin air pulverized the ground in front of them, and all four of them slipped down the rocky hill.

Tori got up. "Go, go, go!" They all scrambled for cover as another blast sounded from behind them. Tori was sure that she heard mocking laughter, but she couldn't dwell on that now when some kleptomaniac dude was trying to fry her to death.

She began to hyperventilate when Cam snatched a rusty chain from the ground and yanked on it, hard. A trapdoor opened up, and Cam yelled, "In here!"

Nobody need to listen to that twice. They scrambled down the shaft after Cam.

"Cam, what is this place?" Shane asked. He winced as another blast sounded above them.

"Just follow me, and stay quiet," Cam murmured.

"Ah!" Tori flinched as she was hit by falling pebbles. (Well, hey, they were sharp!)

Cam placed his hand against this holographic panel, and the wall in front of them slid open.

"No way," Shane breathed.

"It's amazing!" Dustin admitted, smirking.

The door slid shut behind them—just in time, too, as footsteps slowly descended down the stairway. There was a loud crash outside, and all of them waited with bated breath.

Somebody snarled, a girl, at the other side of the door. "Stupid thing. I can't get through."

"Go figure," a guy's voice answered. Tori couldn't help but think that they sounded familiar. "You didn't think that we could just waltz in there, eh?"

There was silence, and then the first voice growled, "You just wait. We'll get you three sooner or later." Their footsteps faded.

Dustin let out a low whistle after a few minutes. "That was all too close," he murmured.

He turned his attention to the room. "Dude!"

Cam walked after them. "Don't ask any questions, 'cause I can't answer them."

"What?" Shane asked with a small laugh. "This is like something secret?"

Cam answered with a roll of his eyes, "Yes, Shane. It's like some big secret."

"And there are times when secrets must be revealed, Cam," a voice that was remarkably similar to Sensei's said. A cart wheeled into the room, and on it stood a...guinea pig.

Tori blinked twice to make sure she wasn't going senile.

"Whoa." Shane walked over and indicated to the guinea pig. "That big rat sounds just like Sensei."

Tori slapped him. "It's a _guinea pig_, Shane. Get your animals straight."

"Doesn't really look like him though, huh?" Dustin laughed, bending down to examine him. "Except for the clothes, though."

Cam huffily said, "My father is not a rat. Like Tori said, he is a guinea pig."

Dustin looked thunderstruck. "Uh. Did he just explain why, and I just, like, missed it?"

"Yes, Dustin," Tori muttered. "You did."

"He got stuck," Cam said as if that explained everything.

Shane looked bewildered. "Stuck?"

"Yes, Shane," Sensei/guinea pig said. "Stuck. Observe." The guinea pig did what must have been ten consecutive flips in the air, something that, until now, Tori didn't think that furry rodents were capable of doing.

A screen popped up, showing a man with a bad mask and a huge ponytail protruding out of the back. "This is Lothor, once a great ninja. He was banished from the Earth when his hunger for power turned him to the dark side. When our energy fields collided, I was transformed into what you see before you now. Now, he has returned, and has brought an army that will do anything to take our planet for their own. Unless they are stopped—"

Dustin extended a hand towards the screen, and Tori and Shane looked at him. "Who is going to be dumb enough to stop him?"

Sensei nodded his rodent head in approval. "An excellent question, Dustin." He turned to his son. "The morphers, Cam."

Cam looked stunned. "Father, you're not serious!"

Sensei bowed his head. "We have no choice."

Cam gestured towards the trio. "But these guys? Them?"

Tori exchanged a glance with Shane.

"They're—well, they're—" Cam stuttered.

Tori crossed her arms. "We're _what_?" she demanded. "Incompetent, lazy, not-on-time students of this academy?"

"Well..."

"Yes," Tori retorted. "You're going to say, 'yes'. I thought as much."

"Yeah," Shane agreed, "I didn't like the way that sounded." He turned to Dustin. "And you?"

Dustin shifted. "Actually, dude, I'm kinda lost here."

Sensei interrupted the banter and said in a final tone of voice, "Now, Cam."

Cam grudgingly turned to retrieve whatever these morphers were. He came back, carrying a case with white carvings on the top. Standing in front of Dustin, Tori, and Shane, he opened them and said in a serious tone of voice, "These are you Power Ranger Wind Morphers."

Tori was the first to recover. She laughed. "Yeah, right." But she felt unsure.

Dustin took it completely differently. He slapped Shane across the chest, saying, "Pst! 'S—I knew it, dude! I was right! Power Rangers _are_ real..." He took the Morpher with the yellow coin on it.

Tori was rolling her eyes inwardly, but she took the blue one, and laughed, "Whatever."

Shane took his, a red one, while chuckling, "No way."

"Dustin," Sensei said calmly, "child of the earth—"

Tori smirked. No way Hades would have a son like Dustin, he was too easygoing.

"—true to your heart—"

Tori shifted. With all the jokes and pranks? Nope.

"—you will embody the powers of the Yellow Wind Ranger."

Dustin finished strapping his Morpher to his wrist and looked up with a smile on his face.

"Tori, fluid and graceful, like the water," Sensei said, turning to her. Tori almost raised an eyebrow at the irony of the statement.

"You will become the Blue Wind Ranger."

"Shane, reaching for the stars—"

Tori privately thought that Artemis wouldn't like that. _Artemis_...the thought of the moon goddess sent a pang through her.

"—you will command the powers of the Red Wind Ranger. From this point, you will be known as the Wind Power Rangers, protectors of the Earth."

Tori thought, _They already have demigods to do that._

Shane looked around. "So...what exactly does this thing do?"

Tori looked up. "Where's the switch?"

"D—does it have any games on it, or what?"

"No, it doesn't have games," Tori snorted, and she heard Cam say in a very sarcastic tone of voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, the defenders of the galaxy."

A beeping sound caught their attention.

Sensei said, "Quickly! Lothor's army is attacking! You must intercept him! Call on your powers by saying, 'Ninja Storm, Ranger form'."

All of them nodded, and they rushed out of the room.

* * *

><p>They arrived at a rocky cliff, where some monster dude was rallying a bunch of things in black suits.<p>

"Hey!" Dustin cried. "Looking for us?"

The lead monster glanced up and roared in a hoarse voice, "It's them!"

Shane glared down. "Okay!" He held up his Morpher. "Ninja Storm...what was it again?"

"I think it was—" Tori started, but she was cut off by Dustin. "Ninja Storm, Ranger form!"

Dustin held up a hand. "Dude. Just watch and learn."

He raised his right arm, sticking two fingers into the air like he was about to go one-on-one. "Ninja Storm"—he spun his hand in the air—"Ranger form"—he stuck his fist out—"HA!" In a flash, his clothes were replaced by a full yellow suit with his coin insignia in the middle. His helmet appeared, and his black visor closed over his eyes.

Tori nodded, impressed.

"Power of earth!" His voice echoed across the canyon.

He looked over his getup and clapped his hands. "Oh, oh, yeah, baby! Yeah, ha!" He pointed at Tori. "Well, no one's laughin' at the comic book geek now, are they?"

Shane and Tori smirked at each other, and shook their heads.

"Ninja Storm, Ranger form, HA!"

Within seconds, Tori was decked out in full gear. Shane was in the same position.

"ATTACK!" the lead monster bellowed. The little ones under his command hopped towards them.

Tori spared a glance to her left side and was shocked. She saw two little figures on the canyon floor, staring up at them. One was gold, another silver. Tori blinked hard, and when she looked at that place again, they were gone. Maybe it was her mind playing tricks on her.

"Wind Rangers! Ninja swords!"

Tori drew her blade, feeling a familiar grip. She glanced down and smiled to herself. Maybe it was just her, but it was like an elongated, non-curved version of her former hunting knives.

Tori meant to sprint, but instead, she went super fast—ninja streak? Cool.

She decided to convert the sword into laser gun mode. How she knew that, she had no idea, but it was handy. She jumped into the water and ran on top it of while shooting. All of the black suited eyes screamed like little girls and fell down.

"Wind!"

"Power!"

"Rangers!"

"You're impressive against the Kelzaks," the monster admitted. "But you really didn't think that was all we had, did you?" A bunch of red confetti-like things flew at them, which promptly exploded.

Shane pressed something on his belt, and Tori's mouth dropped open as she saw a huge hang glider erupt. He flew through the air: "Hey, guys, check this out! It's called getting some air!"

Tori didn't want to go into Zeus's realm, so she hung back as Dustin followed Shane's example. He yelled, "We've got you covered!" Then, he seemed to realize that Tori wasn't in the air. "Hey, Tor, c'mon!"

"I really couldn't," Tori murmured to herself. It turned out that she would have wanted to risk flying and invoking Zeus's anger on her than what happened to her next.

"Hey!" Tori turned around, startled, just in time to get whacked in the chest by a figure in gold. She flew through the air and rolled on the ground, gasping and clutching her chest.

"Not so tough now, aren't you," the voice from before said.

Tori had never heard of a gold Power Ranger before, but that's exactly what she saw. A guy in a gold helmet, with a gold suit, and a green lightning bolt emblazoned across the middle of his uniform.

She gasped as another force whacked her helmet. Sparks flew, and the other voice sneered, "You're crow food."

Tori stood up and turned around to stare at a similarly dressed girl to the guy, but in silver and blue, not gold and green.

There was a loud crash behind her as somebody howled, "I'm afraid of heights!"

Tori rolled out of the way as the two evil Rangers' swords flashed down the spot where she had been a second before.

"I said that we would get you," the Silver Ranger said, walking towards her. "It would be nice to get all three of you to Lothor, but we can settle with one, I suppose."

"Lay off!" Shane and Dustin dropped to the ground as the lead monster exploded behind them.

"No!" Tori yelled, but the Gold Ranger had already moved. Shane and Dustin went flying, and they crashed to the ground besides her.

"That's better," the Silver Ranger cheerfully said.

"Yes," her comrade agreed. "We..." He suddenly dropped and clutched his head. A second later, the Silver Ranger did the same, and they both writhed on the ground. For a second, the one in silver twitched and dazedly said, "What the...?" The Gold Ranger mumbled under his breath, but they both staggered upright and sprinted away.

"Hey!" Shane yelled, pulling himself up. "After them!"

They all ran after the two corrupt Rangers, and they almost ran over Percy and Thalia in the process.

Thalia groaned when Tori accidentally stepped on her hand. "I'm so sorry!" Tori gasped.

Only the whites of Percy's eyes were showing, and he muttered something.

Thalia opened her eyes, looking dazed. "What...I don't..."

"Did you see two people pass by?" Dustin interrupted. "In gold and silver uniforms?"

"No," Thalia muttered, "I'm sorry...I'm not feeling right..." And she promptly fainted.

Back at Ninja Ops, Shane sighed. "We lost them. Who are they?"

Cam shrugged. "I don't know, I've never heard of them."

Tori had a bad feeling about this, and she definitely knew that they would be encountering those two metallic Rangers again. And a small theory was forming in their mind—their identities.

"Tori, you fought them first. Did you recognize them?"

Tori turned her helmet in her hands. "They were the same people knocking on the door," she said hollowly. "I don't know who they are, though."

Sensei was silent all throughout this.

* * *

><p><strong>Whew. That took quite a while...thank the GODS for break.<br>R & R! I know that PJO/PR fics aren't all that popular, but...still.**


	2. No I In Team

**Shoutout to DalekDavros, (redgreenblue), and LightningStrike24 for being my first three reviewers! :) Thanks!**

**So this is "No 'I' In Team" from PRNS. WARNING: I tried, I really did. I couldn't find a working link. If any of you do have one, can you PM it to me? Please? I've got "Beauty and the Beach" down, and then, I need Looming Thunder. So PM me!**

**And I'm listening to the theme song of Mystic Force. Personally, I think that it's the best out of all the PR music...  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>  
>Percy<p>

* * *

><p>Percy woke up to a splitting headache.<p>

Just thinking about any random thing gave Percy a massive headache. He staggered over to Thalia, who was still passed out. Percy wearily shook Thalia, feeling lethargic himself. When she didn't stir, Percy sighed and settled down to deal with his own jumbled, messed-up thoughts.

He vaguely remembered...a fight? Yes. He was whacking somebody in a blue helmet on the head...but why would he do that? He wasn't _that_ violent—smacking some guy without any reason whatsoever. Maybe Thalia was occasionally like that (no, he decided, always), but he wouldn't do that.

Percy felt a spasm vibrate through his left arm, and he clutched it, gritting his teeth. He blearily glanced at the gold Morpher attached to his wrist.

Wait a second. _Morpher?_ Where did that come from?

Percy fumbled with the straps, trying to take it off, but miserably failed. He shook his head and tore his attention away from it. It probably didn't matter the least.

But, honestly—what the Hades was he _doing?_ Banging on doors, unconsciously beating the crap out of people—what was the world coming to?

Percy felt something gripping his mind in a dark hold, but he was too tired to think about it. It was probably just his mind, making up crazed thoughts as he was going senile.

Something clicked inside of him, and all of his drowsiness went away. There was a single command repeating over and over in his head.

He turned to Thalia, and shook her more roughly. "Thalia. Wake up."

Thalia groaned and opened her eyes. "What?" she grumpily asked.

The words were out of Percy's mouth before he knew that he was even saying them. "Don't you think that we have stuff to do? Like, to trash a certain place?"

Thalia's mouth twitched, and he broke out into a very un-Thalia-like sneer. "Oh, yeah. Certainly."

"I've got your back."

Thalia slugged him. "You mean, I've got _your_ back. You're the boss."

Percy rolled his eyes. "I never thought that I would hear Thalia Grace telling me that I was the leader."

"First time for everything," Thalia pointed out. "So hurry up, before I start a mutiny against you, and you'll be demoted down to second, and I'll be leader."

"That's more like you," Percy said agreeably, and they both slipped off.

* * *

><p><em>"Hm...should we stop them? I'm all for."<br>_

_"We _can't_. Orders are orders."_

_"I'm still up for it. They need to be taught a serious lesson."_

_"Listen, bro, I would like that too, but lest we mess this up, we're out of it for sure. We'll bide our time, and when the moment comes, we'll kick their butts all the way down Mount Everest."_

_"Sweet revenge, eh?"_

_"Oh, yes..."_

* * *

><p>Tori<p>

* * *

><p>You could have blown Tori over with a leaf.<p>

"Why are you asking _me_ where this oh-so-magical scroll is? I don't know any more than you!" she sighed.

"Hmm!" Shane grumbled. "Worse that we're chained to each other..."

Tori turned to Dustin and nearly tripped over her shackles in the process. "Can't you just use your freaky powers over the earth or something and just get us out of here?"

"Hey, don't look at me!" Dustin said, trying to hold his hands up. He would have succeeded, if not for his cuffs. "I can't do anything in here!"

"C'mon, you guys!" Shane sighed, pulling on the cuffs.

"Ouch!" Tori cried. "Shane!"

"Argh! This could take all day!" Shane complained, once again pulling on his left wrist—which happened to be the one tied to Tori's wrist.

"Shit!" The swear word just came tumbling out of her mouth. Eh. At least this wouldn't be broadcasted to little children across the world. At least, she hoped. "Shane, will you stop pulling! My wrist is totally tweaked!"

"Sorry, Tori," he apologized. "It would just be so much faster if we could split up!"

"Not to mention less painful!" Tori sighed.

"You know, the scroll of three better be worth it! I mean, these cuffs are brutal!" Dustin said.

"Sensei would not have sent us if it were not important," Shane reprimanded. It's got to be here somewhere!" Shane once again pulled on the cuffs, pulling—more like, yanking—Tori forward.

"_Ow!_"

"What kind of scroll are we talking about anyway?" Dustin asked.

"I'm thinking, that if we see a scroll anywhere around here, it's got to be that one," Tori pointed out.

"Okay, well, how about that one?" Dustin asked, pointing to a scroll that was—surprise!—floating in the air. Without waiting for Tori and Dustin, which Tori found extremely irritating, Shane ran ahead. Dustin and Tori were pulled with him, successfully tripping over their own feet. Which was pretty much the only thing they had accomplished so far.

"Whoa!" Tori said. "Wait! It says something."

"_'Stronger is one than three',_" Shane read. They stared at it for a while.

"What? That's it?" Dustin asked in disbelief. "Man! We would be better off buying fortune cookies!"

"Let's just grab it and bail," Tori said, happy the mission was finally over.

"I'll get it!" Shane exclaimed, jumping to reach the scroll. Unfortunately, he forgot about the others, and their weight pulled him down.

"Who's on my foot?" Dustin asked as he spit out sand from his mouth.

"I'll do this myself!" Shane growled, getting up.

There was a barrage of squeaks/screeching, and a bunch of squeaking Kelzaks ran towards around them.

"_Um,_ Kelzak party of ten!" Dustin exclaimed.

"God!" Shane muttered, backing up and effectively hitting Dustin in the process. "Can this day get any weirder?"

"You jinxed it," Tori teased. "It definitely will get a _lot_ weirder."

"Can we actually be _serious_ for once?"

Dustin kicked a Kelzak in the chest, but timed his landing wrong, so he landed on his back on the desert floor with a thump. Tori yelped as the cuff dug into her wrist, and they all collapsed in a heap.

The Kelzaks were coming closer, chattering in their high-pitched voices. They sounded like blown-up mosquitoes with black suits, a sprigy tuft on their head, and a dragon mask for a face.

"Get up!" Shane said, trying to get up himself, and obviously, not succeeding.

"What do you think we're trying to do?" Dustin snapped, writhing on the ground. "Get off me! You're squashing my chest!"

They continued to struggle with the cuffs until the swords from one of the Kelzaks cut them loose. When the cuffs fell, Shane ran for the scroll, leaving his teammates behind. Tori groaned.

"SHANE!" Dustin yelled as he and Tori were on the ground, unfortunately surrounded by Kelzaks. Tori ground her teeth.

"Help us!" Tori yelled desperately. The Kelzaks brought their swords down as the simulator was turned off. Tori saw Shane sigh.

"Well," Cam said teasingly. "That was below average."

"Shane, you almost turned Tori and me into sushi. And not the good kind. Actually, there is no good sushi for me..." Dustin said, rubbing his hand to reveal a swelled wrist from all the pulling Shane did. Tori was sporting the same red welts.

"Can I—"

Tori almost asked for ambrosia, but suddenly remembered where she was.

Cam looked curiously at her. "Yes?"

"Uh...nothing..."

"Rangers, you are lucky this was only a simulation," Sensei said.

"Sensei, why can't we get this right?" Tori asked.

"That is for you to figure out. Tomorrow, we will try again."

Tori noticed that Shane was kind of tight-lipped, but she didn't comment on it as they all stepped out of Ninja Ops.

Right when they were at the door leading out of the place, Shane turned on them. "If you guys had been a little quicker in getting up, we could have defeated those Kelzaks, and gotten the scroll!" he furiously reprimanded.

Dustin narrowed his eyes, showing a rare display of anger. "Oh, so it's Tori and my fault that we didn't get this oh-so-exciting piece of paper in the desert?"

"Yeah," Tori chimed in, annoyed. "Don't lay all the blame on us, Shane; it's your fault as much as ours."

"That's not what I meant!" Shane protested, his eyes widening.

Tori narrowed her eyes. "Oh, we _know_ what you meant. Come on, Dustin." She began to walk away.

Shane opened his mouth to say something, probably a biting retort, but the crunching of rocks caused them all to turn around.

"I thought that they said they were leaving," Dustin whispered in Tori's ear. Tori frowned. Something wasn't right here...

"Hey, don't lose your temper on us," Percy said easily. "That sounded pretty nasty. You need a lesson in teamwork. Is that what I heard?"

Shane breathed out through his nose, and Tori could tell that he was trying very hard to control his temper.

Thalia shot a glare at Percy and coldly looked at Shane in the eye.

_Oh, gods,_ Tori thought, a bit panicked.

"Don't worry," Thalia said in a tone of voice that made Tori have every reason to worry. That voice had been used right before she and Zoë had that all-out spat. "'Cause we're here to give you a lesson."

"For what price?" Dustin asked, trying to joke around.

"For free," Percy answered, looking impatient.

Thalia's mouth curved up into a sneer. "But not without a few cuts and bruises."

Shane nudged Tori. "What did she mean by that?" he asked worriedly.

"Not another word!" Percy snapped, holding a bronze sword at Shane's throat. Tori thought that it looked very familiar. Too familiar, even...

"Either you surrender right now, which I suggest, or you have us bust out the nasty stuff," Percy threatened.

Tori and Dustin moved to protect Shane from being skewered in the neck, but they had completely forgotten about Thalia, who had sneaked up behind them. She grabbed their shoulders and smashed them together, back-to-back, and her daggers appeared on either side of them. "I don't think so..."

"Gee, Tor," Dustin gasped, "Really nice friends you've got there. Is this a joke?"

Tori fought not to swallow hard. "Percy, Thalia, what in the world are you doing?" she innocently asked.

Shane shot her a glance, and in that instant, when Percy opened his mouth, Shane kneed him in the gut. Percy's knees buckled, and he clutched his chest.

Tori and Dustin both kicked forwards, and Thalia collapsed, breathing hard as she got double kicked in the stomach.

"Okay," Shane said, rubbing his neck. "Teamwork. Right. Wasn't that teamwork?"

"Bust out the uniforms!" Dustin urged. "Please? Before they recover?"

Shane shook his head wearily. "I don't see why not."

"Argh!" Percy grunted, standing up with the help of his sword. He set his blade down.

Thalia climbed to her feet, wincing, but she had an absolutely murderous look on her face. She threw her blades onto the dirt as well.

Tori flinched right after she morphed. This fight would not be pretty.

"You want to take it to the ugly side?" Percy asked, almost snarling. "We'll be more than happy to." He turned to Thalia. "You okay?"

Thalia scowled. "I'll live. Stop worrying about me. Let's go." She suddenly disappeared.

Percy's left jacket sleeve slipped down, revealing a...

_Morpher?_

"What the—?" Tori gasped, until Percy hit it. There was a gold flash, and when the light died down, the Gold Ranger who had attacked her the day before stood in front of her.

"Miss me?" Percy asked, crossing his arms.

Dustin sucked in a breath. "Dude—did you—?"

"If you're that Gold Ranger," Tori said through gritted teeth, than let me guess. Thalia's the silver one."

"Give this girl a medal!" Percy applauded. " Or would you like a trophy?" he added sardonically. "Of course. Who else would it be?"

Shane looked around. "Then...where is she?"

Percy sighed. "Enough of this small talk. I said that we would give you a lesson in teamwork. Let's see how well you work together against us."

"But—" Shane started, but Percy streaked towards him like a hurricane. Shane tumbled on the dirt and struggled to get up.

Dustin and Tori both looked at each other, and they both sprinted towards Percy, who promptly turned at the last second and blocked their strikes with the bronze sword Tori had seen him nearly kill Shane with. She squinted at the Ancient Greek writing on the hilt.

"A...Anaklus..._Anaklusmos?_" she gasped, stumbling back. "What—where did you get Riptide?"

This was so overrated, Tori furiously thought. That was _her_ sword! She had lost a decade back, when she was twelve, while still in the Hunters. She was sure Percy hadn't just picked up the pen and stuck it in his pocket. She remembered thinking that it was strange it didn't return to her pocket like it usually did, but she assumed that Artemis had found it and would give it back to her. But it never happened, and Tori was on the edge of a breakdown for days. She had tried everything, from stamping around the forest to talking to cuttlefish and squid, whom she happened to be a celebrity to, but it had just disappeared. And now, out of all places, _and_ when she needed it the most, it happened to be in Percy Jackson's hand? Unacceptable.

"Hey, listen, Tori!" Dustin gasped, blocking a strike from Percy. "I don't know what you're talking about, but now would be a good time to take out the teamwork on this Percy guy!"

"Oh, no," Percy said, disapproving Dustin's suggestion. He pushed the Yellow Ranger away and whistled. "Now would be a good time!" he called.

"What?" Dustin asked, confused. "You just—"

A silver blur ripped through the air, and Thalia appeared, a sword cocked over her head. It slammed home onto Dustin, who fumbled for his sword and managed to block Thalia's next strike. Shane recovered enough to join the fight, and their battle moved down further south.

"It's just you and me, sis," Percy said, pointing Riptide at her.

"Answer my question, first, then!" Tori snapped, getting pretty angry. "Where did you get Riptide? And don't call me 'sis'!"

"Oh." Percy sounded bored, and he waved a hand. "That? Daddy dear Poseidon gave it to Chiron, who gave it to me when I left for my first quest." He chuckled. "You sound _so_ much like Artemis right now. It's not hard to believe you were a Hunter..."

Tori's mouth dropped open, and she opened her visor. "_What?_" She was going to have a serious talk with the god of the seas once she managed to get a break from ninja training, so she could go to Olympus.

"Why would you care?" Percy carelessly asked. "It's not as if it used to be yours. Now, can we—"

"Oh, yeah, it did use to be mine!" Tori retorted. She was aware that her ears were probably flaming.

Percy clicked open his visor and laughed. "Do you lie a lot?"

"...Not really, why?"

"I thought so," Percy smirked. "You aren't very good at it."

Tori made a sound of indignation. "But it did!" she insisted.

"Yeah, and"—he thought for a moment—"hedgehogs will _fly_. If you're so sure about it, why don't you prove it?"

The sounds of clashing metal drew nearer, and Thalia's irritated voice wafted over: "Look, Jackson, I don't know what you're doing—_ow!_"—she kneed Dustin in the gut, for he had apparently whacked her around the head—"but it looks like sibling bonding time! If you were any more calm, than you could talk with her over a cup of tea! What happened to being the leader?"

"Fine!" Percy and Tori both snapped at once. Tori fumed while closing her visor, drew her sword, and charged.

"Come and get it," Percy taunted, his visor closing shut over his green eyes—or, Tori noticed with surprise, cloudy/stormy gray ones. Strange. She would think that all children of Poseidon would have green or blue-gray eyes, and she thought that Athena's kids were known for sharp gray irises. Maybe Percy was an exception. She shrugged the thought off as Percy's first strike nearly knocked the blade out of her hands. But didn't he _have_ green eyes the first time she saw him? (Okay, it really didn't matter; she could ponder over it later.)

Percy exchanged a few more strikes with her, and Tori despairingly noted that he was a pretty strong guy. She couldn't hold him off forever—and on that thought, Percy whacked her blade out of her hand. It went spinning through the air and stuck straight up in the dirt, the metal blade quivering.

Percy looked over to see how Shane and Dustin were faring against Thalia, and as if on cue, both the Red and Yellow Wind Rangers got hit in the chest by either one of Thalia's blades, and they buckled, sparks flying from their suits. Percy seemed to smirk, and turned his attention back to Tori. "I'll be nice," he decided. "But mark my words, I won't be so nice the next time we meet. I have other things to do." He powered down, and turned his back.

If Tori had any sense, she should have grabbed her sword and struck Percy while he was undefended. But she just stood there, stunned as Percy walked away, disappearing.

Thalia shouted, "Hey! Way to leave me here!" She powered down, and turned Tori's way, but then froze as somebody said:

"Hey, loser!"

A voice came out of nowhere, and as Tori turned around, she couldn't see anybody but Shane and Dustin, who were lying on the ground, a retreating Percy, and a certain, spitting-mad Thalia Grace.

Now, Tori knew that the Big Three kids—including herself—had a fair amount (mind you, only a healthy dose) of pride. But she also knew that Thalia had much more of that than necessary. And Tori knew that Thalia _hated_, hated being called a loser.

"Sorry, cousin dear!" Percy sang, re-materializing next to the daughter of Zeus. "We'll deal with them later. Don't let them get to your head. _Adios, amigos!_"

"Spanish?" Thalia said, turning to him, looking dumbfounded. "You've sunk so low."

"Aw! Thanks...but we have other stuff to do..."

Thalia scowled and spat an Ancient Greek insult—to be specific, a certain phrase meaning "Go to the crows"—over her back, but she zipped after Percy.

* * *

><p>Shane<p>

* * *

><p>Shane was outside skateboarding after that totally crazy morning, trying to sort out his equally-totally messed-up thoughts.<p>

He knew that Tori was a good kid. She was a nice (okay, mostly nice) person to be with, but he questioned her definition of what she defined as "friends".

Shane had no problem with being Tori's buddy. As he said before, she's a great person, but Percy and Thalia? _Not_ so much.

He had slaved his butt off an hour before, trying to fight Thalia off. That girl was in a total league of her own. He hadn't seen much of Percy's fight with Tori, but he could safely assume that it was at least as wicked bad.

Except that Thalia had yelled something about sibling bonding time. Maybe they were just talking. How unfair was that?

Whenever he asked Tori about her life before the academy, she always either:

A.) Snapped in his face and told him to mind his own _damn_ business and whip his butt. (Bad day, bad times, he can't really blame her. And not literally whip his other-word-for-donkey, but still, she came close.)  
>B.) Walked away without saying anything. (On occasion, it happened.)<br>C.) Gave a vague answer and immediately changed the subject. (That was when she was in a good mood. It was his most preferred reply, but it only happened once or twice.)  
>Or...<br>D.) All of the not-preferred answers above. (A.k.a., Choices A and B. Standard, most often-used response. It didn't make sense to talk without saying anything, but Tori pulled it off.)

So Shane had just given up.

And to think that Percy was Tori's _half-brother_...Shane shuddered just to think about it. From what he'd seen, they were totally polar opposites. For God's sake, they even _looked _different. Percy had black hair and either green or gray eyes, seemingly depending on the time of the day, while Tori had her blond hair and gray-blue eyes.

Shane vaguely heard some commotion behind him, but he just stopped skateboarding and headed towards Storm Chargers.

"Anything you wanna talk about?" Kelly, the store's manager asked, punching a few things into the till beside Shane when he got inside.

"Kelly, you're a good boss, right?" Shane asked.

"No one's ever quit on me," Kelly answered, winking.

"So, how do you do it? What's the trick?" Shane asked.

"There is no trick," Kelly laughed. "You just work _with_ them. Give them a chance. We're more like...teammates, ya know?"

Oh, yes. Shane could see where this was going. He totally got the gist. "Yeah, but how can you be sure things won't be messed up if you don't do them yourself?"

"I trust the people around me," Kelly smiled. "Especially my friends."

There was a moment of awkward silence. Then:

"Put me down!" a voice from outside screamed.

"What was that?" Kelly asked, sounding worried.

Shane, like any other normal person would, turned around and almost had a coronary (a.k.a., heart attack.).

"Stay here," he told Kelly. "I'll check." He ran outside instantly.

Shane saw a big dude that looked strangely like a horseshoe magnet wrecking things and generally, causing large amounts of havoc throughout the city, by, nonetheless, sticking people together into giant balls.

"Hey!" Shane yelled. "Magnet Head!"

Okay, maybe not the best insult (he was sure that both Tori and Dustin could think of something better) but hey, it worked.

"Hey, yourself!" the monster taunted, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Shane.

Shane had already fought a draining fight this day, skateboarded, and he didn't need another monster ruining his already obliterated-to-smithereens day. He wanted to get this over quickly, so as the monster stumbled from one of Shane's kicks, he yelled, "Ninja Storm! Ranger form, ha!"

But even after he morphed, the fight was tough for him: he was just a rookie Ranger. Shane knew that he needed help, but he didn't want to admit it, so he set his teeth and threw himself into another round with Magnetzilla.

After another couple minutes of right hooks, roundhouse kicks, slashes, parries, and getting a thorough thrashing, Shane wearily knew that he had to get help.

"I can't handle this alone!" Shane yelled. "Tori! Dustin! I need your help!"

"Thought you'd never ask!" a voice called, and the pattering of feet drew nearer. Dustin clapped a hand on Shane's shoulder. "I'm with you all the way, bro!"

"What took you so long?" Shane sighed. "I thought I wouldn't have to ask you without you guys come to help me here."

Tori shrugged and said, "The bottom line is, Sensei didn't let us come and help you until you asked for help yourself. We didn't _want_ to see you getting killed out there!" She laughed a little.

They turned to face the Mad Magnet, who looked like he was about to bind all three of them together, and Shane had no desire to become part of a stack of human pancakes. Especially after that "bonding" time in the desert. Sensei took it over-literally.

Dustin seemed to read his thoughts, and he flashed Shane a smirk. "Don't worry. We won't."

* * *

><p>Percy<p>

* * *

><p>Percy and Thalia studied the scene through narrowed eyes. Thalia was looking a little jumpy, being over a hundred feet in the air.<p>

"Hey!" Thalia complained, her hands gripping the rail of the building he was standing on top of. "Lothor never told us that they had this gun with a hammer at the end!"

Percy sighed heavily. "Since when has he told us _anything?_"

"It's their Storm Striker, brain boy."

Thalia slammed her fist on one of the sightseeing binocular things, where you can insert a quarter and twirl the binoculars on their pedestal and ooh/aah at the landscape. A muted sound rang thought it. "What do you _want__?_" she growled without turning around. "And what's with calling people losers?"

"We're just watching the show with you!" Blake protested.

"You're not stalking us?" Percy asked heavily.

"Nah," Hunter clarified, standing next to Percy and looking down on the rather panoramic scene—not. "Are you going to kill us?"

Thalia snorted. "You would be dead already, this high up." She seemed to be in an even worse mood than before (if that was possible), and Percy really wasn't sure if it was because the Thunder Rangers were with them, or because she was the only girl in their little quartet. It was probably both.

They silently looked on as the Wind Rangers, with Dustin in the front, blasted what looked like an energy ball containing a hundred-pound weight on the Mad Magnet, flattening to something that pretty much resembled a piece of flattened metal.

Blake applauded. "That was lovely. It should be kept there as a national monument to monsters of all kinds."

Hunter threw a look at his brother. "Dude."

"Okay...okay..."

"Well, I'd be damned," Percy said after a while, saying something that Annabeth would have duct-taped his mouth for eternity for. "Look at that floating scroll. Man, that idea is _so_ overused."

"Maybe about only five thousand zillion years ago," Thalia snidely retorted.

Hunter made a _tsk-_ing sound and wagged a finger. "Thalia, the universe is only thirteen-point-seven billion years old."

"And who made _you_ the astronomy geek?"

"Cosmology."

"_Whatever!_" And in an undertone, Thalia added: "What's the difference?"

The overused idea of a floating scroll, however, was not so overused if the words on it suddenly glowed red and the parchment disappeared, therefore making a monster grow to superhuman size.

"I _told_ you we should have stayed," Thalia reprimanded, slugging Percy on the arm. "Now look what's happened. The Mad Magnet's lived up to its name and has gone utterly mad." She stared disbelievingly at the now-huge monster.

Percy pursed his lips. "Chill. It wouldn't have helped if we had just jumped in and...never mind. But the monster's kicked it up a notch now...we'll see their defeat."

"That's a TV show that would be nice to put on Nicktoons," Thalia muttered.

"Oh, no," Blake said, dismissing the idea. "Do you know how many little children watch that station?"

"Well, if they can digest Dragon Ball, than I think that they can stand a big monster with a magnet for a head. It has a slight entertainment factor, at least!"

"I don't think that that's the point," Percy said.

Thalia sighed. "Yes. Again, whatever." She turned her attention back to the fight, her eyebrows furrowed. "Percy, I'll bet you as many drachmas there are in the world that Mad Magnet is going down."

Hunter looked at her, a smirk playing around the corners of his lips. "Are you going to go traitor? What makes you think that?"

"If you had bothered to move your empty head just a couple of inches down, than you would notice a big mechanical hawk, lion, and dolphin that said Wind Rangers went into. They're called Zords. You have Zords of your own. Bugs, nonetheless. And then, hey, guess what? It's Megazord time. Bet?"

"No bet," Percy groaned.

"Dude—they aren't _combining_," Hunter commented. "The Zords are individually attacking."

"And they're blowing Mad Magnet to pieces," Blake added. "But, hey, the guy's a magnet. He'll just reform. And what's with _us_ having Zords? Don't you have any?"

"Not that I know of," Percy shrugged. "Nah, I'm kidding."

"That's because he's extremely unobservant," Thalia said, rejecting his statement. "I think it's an eagle and a...starfish?"

"No! It's a shark!" Percy huffed.

"Okay, okay...don't set your pants on fire..."

Hunter stifled a snort.

As if Blake's previous comment about the Mad Magnet sticking together was prophetic, the monster just reassembled itself, and seemed a lot madder than before.

"That's why you don't bet against me."

Percy and the three others silently looked on as the Zords combined to form the Megazord.

"Looks like ultimately, I was right," Thalia smugly said. "Let's all bet against Blake. He'll always lose. Whaddya think it's called?"

"When they morph," Percy pointed out, "they say something like, 'Ninja Storm, Ranger form'."

Hunter rolled his eyes. "So, what, you think it's called the 'Ninja Storm, Ranger form' Megazord? That's a long name. It even has a comma."

"Well, maybe it's the Ninja Megazord, or Storm Megazord, or—"

"Stop it!" Thalia and Blake both snapped. Percy was silent for a moment, and then smirked. "Looks like you two think alike."

Thalia just crossed her arms and glared at the "Ninja Storm, Ranger form" Megazord.

"Well, would you look at that," Percy said finally. "They have a sword with the head of a flat-headed dragon."

"I think it's a snake," Blake knowledgeably offered.

Percy's mouth dropped. "Oh, they can _multiply into three?_ How fair is that? Looks like Mad Magnet's going to be a pile of iron filings by the end of this."

"Leave the future-telling to Rachel," Thalia said. "Although...you're probably right."

"You sound as if you hate to admit it," Hunter mildly noticed.

Thalia shook her head. "Boys..." She turned away from the scene. "Let's go. The battle's over, the Wind Rangers won the day, and Lothor's going to be pulling his ponytail out of that mask thing he wears."

"I think it's actually fused to his face," Hunter pointed out.

Thalia turned a bit green. "Never. Ever. Mention. That. To. Me. Again. It's so sick."

"Yeah," Percy muttered, running after her. "Big surprise."

"I still hate going into outer space," Thalia muttered as they flashed into Lothor's spaceship.

"Suck it up," Hunter flashed back.

Lothor looked quite mad when they arrived at the doorway. Although it was closed, they could still hear him scream: "Fine! It's time to bring out the big guns!"

"But _Uncle_," a girl whined, presumably either Kapri or Marah, "we're still stuck to each other!"

"Sibling bonding time," Hunter smirked, flashing Thalia an all-knowing look. Thalia just sighed and shook her head.

Percy snickered. "I think I like being compared to a gun."

"They're inanimate objects!" Blake said in surprise.

"...I take that back..."

"You four!" Lothor growled, pacing around the ship and looking extremely vexed. "Get rid of them! Just get rid of them!"

Thalia sighed as they appeared back on solid ground. "What have we been trying to do for the past day? I didn't hunt them down in a blown-up desert for nothing!"

Blake looked thoughtful. "You know, I think that it's time to put that camera into use.

Percy scoffed. "Don't tell me that you're still thinking of manning that thing. How are we going to get one of them to a photo shoot?"

"As far as I'm concerned," Hunter said, "I'm out of it. Just get Marah and Kapri to do it, and promise that they can go to the mall if they're successful in making a clone of one of the Wind Rangers."

Thalia crossed her arms. "Look, this is a lovely plan and all, but there's one small flaw: _Who are we going to clone?_"

Percy looked at her. "That _is_ a real problem...who ever knew you'd be so smart?"

"What?" Thalia looked stunned. "I _am_ smart!"

"Yeah, about as much as a sloth," Percy muttered.

"You take that back!"

"Whoa. Guys. Let's not have a fight over who's more intelligent," Blake intervened. "Who do _you_ want to clone?"

"Shane," Hunter suggested immediately. "He's their leader."

Blake frowned. "No, Dustin would be a better choice. He can...I dunno, smash or laugh his way into Ninja Ops."

"That makes no sense," Percy argued. "He would get caught in seconds. I say we get Marah and Kapri to clone Tori."

Hunter scoffed. "Why? Because she's your half-sister?"

"No, because she's a girl."

Thalia turned on him again. "What do you have against girls?" She swatted Percy. "The next time you suggest something like that, an arrow will be impaled through your brain."

"But it was a compliment!" Percy protested. "They're...more..." His voice trailed off.

"Yes?" Thalia snarled. "We're _what?_"

"Subtle," Percy lamely finished. Yes. That was the word.

"It's down to you, Thalia," Blake pointed out. "We guys all have different opinions. Whoever you choose, we'll clone. Majority rules."

"Heh," Thalia muttered. "Fine. Get Tori."

Hunter shrugged. "Okay. Ring up Marah and Kapri, get them unstuck, and bring out the Kelzaks and the camera. Then, they can formulate some plan to get the camera onto her, and then, Ninja Ops will be infiltrated. Simple as that."

Percy kicked back. "And we won't have a lift a finger? Sounds good to me."

"Then it's on." All four of them walked off into Blue Bay Harbor.


	3. Beauty and the Beach, Part One

**Hiiiii! Shout out to **_Daughter of Artemis and Cahill_**, whose short little review was all I needed to get off of my lazy ass and start writing this again. Actually, I've kind of drifted away from Percy Jackson. I'm getting...bored of it. *Gasp* **

**But thanks, DoAaC! This is the last fic on RomanGreekDemi I'm going to be finishing, and then, I'm permanently moving on to my new account. **

**This chapter will introduce the "reunion" of the Hunters and Tori. LOL.**

**YEEESSSSS NICKTOONS FINALLY POSTED LOOMING THUNDER ON THEIR VIDS ON NINJA STORM!  
><strong>

**Au revoir!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Three, Part One.<br>**Thalia

* * *

><p>Thalia sneezed as the camera was brought up. "Gods, how long has that thing been in the storage room?"<p>

"Maybe...two years?" Zurgane suggested.

"Figures!" Percy grumbled as he began examining it all around. "It's as messy as a—"

An awkward figure stumbled over as Marah and Kapri tried to walk over to see what was happening.

"Guuuuuuuuys!" Kapri whined. "You said that you would get us unstuck if we helped you!"

Thalia crossed her arms. "The deal is off if this stupid camera doesn't begin working."

Hunter trotted over. "Um, guys? The only reason it isn't working is 'cause you don't have the batteries in..."

Percy snatched the two AA Duracell batteries from Hunter's outstretched hand, and shoved them into the camera, which produced an unencouraging _clank_. "Well...why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I thought that it was supposed to be obvious," Blake muttered under his breath.

"GUYS!" Kapri yelled. "We're still stuck!"

Marah wailed. "I chipped a nail!"

Thalia threw her hands up in exasperation. "Will you give me a break!"

"But the camera's working..."

"Okay, fine." Percy took over. "Hunter, you hold Kapri, and I'll get Marah. Then, we yank."

There was period of awkward silence after that.

"What?" Percy protested against the stony silence. "I mean, I'm sure that they'll survive with their arms still intact!"

* * *

><p>Tori<p>

* * *

><p>As far as Tori was concerned, some boys were so totally doofuses.<p>

"Didn't you think that, oh, maybe I wanted to meet him? See if he wanted to hang out sometime?" Tori snapped at Shane.

"You're kidding, right?" Shane incredulously replied. "He was totally out of your league!"

Tori snorted and began to pack away her stuff. "This is just further proof that you're a complete idiot!" She stormed away with her board, leaving a very confused Shane in the dust.

She stalked towards the pier, absolutely fuming when something caught the corner of her eye.

_Oh, crap. Not now._

But sure enough, there was Thalia, who, thankfully, was not facing in Tori's general direction, but staring at some sandy cliff over the sea. But the daughter of Zeus was only standing about three feet away. Tori instinctively took a step back.

She could either run away right now, which would be the sensible thing to do, or she could try and kick her ass out of the beach.

Hell, she didn't even know why in Hades Thalia was near the beach. Wasn't her father Zeus?

Tori realized that she had stalled too long when Thalia half-turned around to smirk at the water ninja.

"Hey, cuz!" Thalia looked at her up and down.

Tori bumped into the wall of a snack bar. "What do you want? What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking at the scenery," Thalia blatantly answered. "Why look at me like I'm taboo?"

"Well," Tori said, ticked off, "you tried to kill us. Which basically means that, to me, at least, you _are_ taboo."

Thalia waved a dismissive hand. "Oh, that was nothing personal. I promise. Because"—she slyly looked at Tori—"we all have to listen to our elders, don't we?"

Tori didn't waste another second. She turned tail and sprinted away.

"Oh, whoa, hey!" Tori was yanked to a stop, now staring at Thalia in the face.

"What do you _want?_" Tori cried in annoyance. "Because if you want to kill me, well, no thanks, I don't want to die at the age of seventeen."

Thalia shrugged. "I wasn't _going_ to kill you. However, if you want to be killed, I'll happily fulfill your dream. But if you want me to leave you alone, fine. Have a nice day!" She strolled away towards the cliff she was previously staring at.

Tori stared after her and shook her head. She jogged past the snack counter, where the saleslady was strangely looking at her, and then made a beeline towards her van.

Stowing the board away in her trunk, she climbed into the driver's seat. Muttering obscenities under her breath, she edged out of the beach parking lot and zoomed away to Storm Chargers.

* * *

><p>Phoebe<p>

* * *

><p>Phoebe never believed in superstition. Hey, after you've lived for over a hundred years, broke tons of mirrors, and still didn't get an ounce of bad luck, it's not bound to stick around and say "hi".<p>

They had been traversing across the whole country now, looking for their lost lieutenant and the idiot son of Poseidon...again. Phoebe didn't know how Percy Jackson managed to get lost every ten seconds, but it sure was annoying.

Right now, the Hunters had tramped over all of the Eastern Seaboard, made their way through the Midwest, went through the Rocky Mountains, and now, the Pacific Ocean region.

She was so. Damn. Tired. Why were the children of the Big Three never there when you needed them, and always there when you didn't?

The small knot of camouflage-clad teenage girls stared at the sign in from of them, which was written in flowery, cheery script, the exact opposite of Phoebe's mood. It read:

_Welcome to Blue Bay Harbor! We're all beaches here!_

"'We're all beaches here'?" Monique, a twelve-year-old recruit moaned. "Really?"

Phoebe slumped against the sign. "Why do I have a feeling that I'm going to hate this place?" she muttered as she led the Hunters into the small town.

Blue Bay Harbor was indeed almost all beaches, which picture-perfect sand and blue water. There were small shops lined against the line of beach, beach, and more beach. Phoebe was never going into the ocean again after she left this place.

They wandered in and around the shops, dully asking the storekeepers if they knew or heard of two kamikaze teenagers running around the city and probably blowing stuff up. The owners always answered no, but they did mention four Power Rangers that _did_ blow stuff up, along with monsters, although three _other_ spandex-clad superheroes always showed up to destroy the "Bastard of the Week", as one storekeeper kindly put it.

Power Rangers? Blue Bay Harbor just got a lot more interesting.

"Power Rangers?" Jamie whispered, echoing Phoebe's disoriented thoughts as they left the corner store. "I thought that they weren't real."

"Yeah, and we thought that demigods and monsters and gods weren't real, either," Phoebe tiredly said as they reached the last shop on the avenue, some place called Storm Chargers. But personally, she was thinking, _Power Rangers? Psh._

Storm Chargers obviously wasn't as successful as some of the other shops around the area, as there were only three teens in what seemed to be color-coded clothes. The ones in blue and yellow were talking, while the guy in red was sulking off to the side, looking as if he had been slapped in the face.

Phoebe paused, listening to the two teens' probably petty argument.

"...thinks you're mad at him," the boy in yellow was telling the girl lowly, completely oblivious to Phoebe and the Hunters standing right there.

"Really!" the girl sarcastically remarked, turning what looks like a piece of surfboard wax in her hands. "Well. I guess that's why he gets the red suit!" She slapped the wax onto the counter with a snort.

"Well..." The guy talking to her scratched his head. "Look, Tor, you're not, like, a girl-girl—"

"Yeah!" the guy in read butted in, hopping off of his perch and walking to the arguing duo. "You're like a guy-girl!"

Phoebe shook her head in disgust, motioning for her Hunters to stay outside. "My advice," she pointed out, "stop trying to make things better, because they're only getting worse."

The two boys turned, jumping, and, while the girl stiffened a little, she just stayed in her former position, glaring a hole into the counter.

"Oh, hey," the boy in yellow chirped, jogging to greet her. "Didn't see you there! I'm Dustin, welcome to Storm Chargers. You have any business? Like, you just come here for sightseeing?" He slyly grinned.

"Um...actually, yes." Phoebe tiredly sighed. "Did you see, uh, two teens, one a boy and another a girl blowing up anything here?"

Dustin and his friend exchanged a hurried look. "Um...no," Dustin replied awkwardly. "But there _are_ two Power Rangers in gold and silver blowing up everything."

Phoebe narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You're lying."

"Um, if you don't mind me saying so," the girl said from the back, finally turning around, "he isn't, Phoebe." The girl gave her a patronizing look.

Phoebe's jaw has never dropped. Not once in her two-hundred-thirty-five year life. However, she ruined her long streak by detatching her jaw at that moment. She had trouble picking it back up again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Dustin held up his hands in a _"stop everything"_ gesture that Apollo always liked to use right before he sprouted a horrible haiku. "You guys know each other?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Tori looked away, picking up the wax. "Do you want money for this, or should I just steal it right out of the store?"

"You...you..." Phoebe stammered, still gaping at Tori.

Tori frowned. "What? I'm not that interesting, am I?"

"It's just that...you...you..."

Tori rolled her eyes, throwing the wax back into its box. "Obviously, no one wants to give me a straight answer today. Okay! Fine! Be that way!" She threw her hands up in exasperation and pushed her way out of the store, sliding past gawking Hunters without even so much as a "hey". She stormed towards the beach, obviously pissed out of her mind.

Dustin smiled apologetically at a still-stunned Phoebe. "Sorry, she isn't normally like that. I think that she got pushed off the deep end today by Shane."

"Hey!" the guy in red protested.

Phoebe pressed her lips shut. "Well..."

"Um, sorry," Dustin rambled on, scratching the back of his neck. "I mean, you know, that you had to see that. Tori's a bitch when she's mad or evil." He chuckled a little. "See, like, once, in kindergarten—"

"She kicked some boy that was bigger than her in the balls," Phoebe interrupted impatiently. "And got away with it. Yes, I know. Thanks for your information." She bresquely walked out of the shop, flipping a hand to instruct the Hunters to follow her.

"Come back soon!" Dustin called from behind her.

Phoebe rolled her eyes, and then turned to her Hunters. "Do any of you know what all _that_ was about?"

She got no answer, as expected.

* * *

><p>After fifteen minutes of searching, with no conclusion (again), Phoebe was ready to call it a day. She sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. "Where could she be...?"<p>

There was suddenly a loud rattle as Tori (Phoebe was really starting to hate that girl...again) appeared out of nowhere, looking around the place as if she had never seen it before.

"What..." Heather was choking. "What is she _wearing?_"

Tori had suddenly developed a very bad fashion sense. Phoebe felt her jaw slacken for the second time in a day as the not-Tori stalked towards Storm Chargers, when someone materialized out of thin air—now literally—and stopped her.

_Thalia?_

Thalia seemed to be talking to Tori, who was nodding robotically and replying. "Tori" went into Storm Chargers, slamming the door behind her.

Before Phoebe or the Hunters could react, Thalia turned in their direction and gave them a smile.

The smile chilled Phoebe to the bone. It wasn't your average friendly smile; it was the _you-watch-your-back_ smile. Thalia casually looked away, and then disappeared in a streak of silver.

_What in Hades was that?_

Phoebe groaned, turning to her Hunters. "Did you just see what I saw?"

The other Hunters mumbled their "I dunno"s, and Phoebe shook her head, still wondering about that chilling smile.

**_To be continued..._**

* * *

><p><strong>'Kay! For the sake of time, I'm dividing this chapter into two. I just can't finish it in one class period, and considering that I don't have a library pass for lunch (although I'll probably be able to mooch it off someone else...I always manage to do that... *evil grin*), I can't finish it.<strong>

**Once again, you guys better thank DoAaC, or this story would probably have been left to (ouch) rot.**

_**Edit:**_

**STRIKE THAT; I'M GOING TO FINISH THIS AT LUNCH AND REPLACE THE CHAPTER. **

**~RGD**


End file.
